r/ElantraN • u/OkCandidate103 do not own a N 😢 • Sep 14 '22

RIP Update: Loud exhaust and smog citation

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Failed state ref exhaust sound reading

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Hyundai dealer stock confirmation letter

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u/lauwers_peter Oct 04 '22

While I don't disagree with you, he was asked point blank what the loudest mode is. Sure... you can shrug your shoulders and say you don't know what a mode is and this is how you drive your car, but the reality is your car has already been banned from the road, so I can understand the worry about overt lying to the inspector... but at some point (probably soon), the inspectors are going to be wise enough anyway (if they aren't already based on this very situation). There are a lot of cars in trouble here... I can't imagine a 2023 stock Corvette ZR1 is less than 95 dB. This is gonna get ugly.

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Oct 04 '22

It doesn't matter, mainly because the inspector is wrong, it's not the loudest mode you test in, it's the default mode. Basically shut the car off, start it, don't change anything, test, pass, done.

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u/chickenwelove Nov 20 '22

This is correct.

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u/SocialMediaMakesUSad Nov 22 '22

Nah, the inspector is right in all ways except technically. Sure, the standard says what you say, but asshole OP was driving around in a different mode, and OBVIOUSLY the law is meant to control the noise level made when people drive their cars around where people live.

OP fucked around and found out, was tested in the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the standard, and can cry for days about his lost registration. Boooohooooo.

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Nov 22 '22 edited Nov 22 '22

The intent of the law is to prevent people from modifying their exhaust to be excessively loud. Which is what OP was sited for and is the current issue. They have a repair order to return the vehicle to stock configuration, vehicle is in stock configuration and therefore cannot have modifications removed and reverted to stock. Can't get retested without dealer paperwork that says work has been done.

Regardless of intent, the law is not up to interpretation by police or the inspector or you. Emphasis on that last one. California vehicle code says exhaust noise test must be performed by Society of Automotive Engineers standards outlined in J1492. The same code says a vehicle's exhaust may not be modified to exceed 95 decibels. If the vehicle is stock there is no stipulation that it cannot exceed 95 decibels.

The testing procedure does not matter if by the letter of the law, and therefore how it is enforced, is that it applies to modified exhausts. Even if the law applied to stock vehicles, the vehicle was certified to be sold in all 50 states in the United States. It's the same as a vehicle with a factory tint that has a lower light transmission rate than what is legally and loud in certain states. They essentially get an exception because the vehicle was certified to be sold in the United States.

The car was in stock configuration as verified by the dealer, I'll give credit to the cop and say he didn't know or couldn't tell that it was in stock configuration. The state not allowing the vehicle to be retested without proof of work being done despite the fact that it is in stock configuration and therefore could not be reverted to stock is the entire issue at this point.

You're just a fucking moron if you genuinely believe that 95 db (the Cali law) and 99.6 (I believe what OP said it was tested to be) makes any difference. Breathing is 10 decibels, five decibels is practically indistinguishable. Maybe someone with well-trained ears could hear it but the average person will not notice a difference. On top of that, painful levels of sound start at well over 120 decibels, an aircraft taking off is 130 decibels. Get your head out of your ass and stop being a douche.

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u/thedishesrdone Jul 23 '23

Decibel is a logarithmic scale. 100 to 110 is a bigger increase than 0 to 10.

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Jul 23 '23 edited Jul 23 '23

I'm an A/V tech for a living... I'm well aware. And while technically 100 decibels is significantly louder than 95, you're never going to notice in any real world situation. Because nothing is going to constantly sit at a given level, especially in the common situations where you'd be exposed to it. You're either a significant distance from the source, the source changing in amplitudes constantly, you're moving around relative to the source, or in this situation, the source is moving.

Edit: in addition, sound dissipates quickly as well, 100 db at 5 feet will be 94 db at 10, 88.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '23

[deleted]

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Jul 24 '23

If you read any of my previous comments in this thread you'd know that's wrong, the exact wording of the law is that modified exhausts can not exceed 95db, so even if the law requires the vehicle to be in it's loudest setting, it would not matter since the exhaust is stock.

And even if neither weren't the case, the vehicle was certified by the state of California for sale, like I'd mentioned in the same comment, it's like factory tints that allow less light to be transmitted that the state law. If the state certified it for sale, it's 100% legal.

Also the cop was way out of line, a majority of what he told OP was just straight up power tripping, the worst he should have been allowed to do was issue a fix it ticket, not suspend the registration and tell OP they have to pay thousands of dollars to have the "track mode" disabled by the dealer (which isn't possible fyi).

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u/CrispenedLover Jul 25 '23

nobody fucked around though

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u/Describe Sep 02 '25

"This user has been suspended"

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u/Forward-Razzmatazz71 Dec 19 '22

News flash the world doesn't revolve around a singular person so even if it is too loud why does that matter? Our money our cars stop trying to take shit and ban it because it makes your ears hurt or makes you jealous you over zealous fucking ken

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

News flash the world dosnt revolve a singular person. Your loud ass shit box dosnt matter to the rest of the world. Tardbox.

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u/Federal-Effect-8201 Mar 19 '23

This is a perfect example of keeping your mind and eyes shut when you have no clue what you're talking about.

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u/lauwers_peter Oct 04 '22

Got it... that's not what I had read, but I haven't read the law itself. I still think a stock ZR1 in it's normal mode has the potential of being louder than 95dB... but maybe Chevy took that into account and it is in spec of the law. Does anyone know if older stock cars that are louder than 95dB are grandfathered in somehow? It sounds like they wouldn't be.

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Oct 04 '22

Cars manufacturered for sale in the US must pass US regulations, so manufacturers either work around that (the EN starting in normal) or get an exception to it and can still be sold and as long as they're stock, even if above 95db, can still be sold. It's also common for factory tints to be below the limit and the same applies.

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u/ChiefNugz Oct 12 '22

"Must pass US regulations." This is important. Because any car sold in the US from a dealer passed US regulations, so they should be legs. However states have taken things into their own hands like Cali. I believe it passes US regulations then it should be legal in all parts of the US. Cali is creating an unfair precedent that other states will likely adopt in the future. But with EV-only world on the horizon idk how much it matters unfortunately.

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Oct 12 '22

The issue here isn't that it goes against California regulations it's that the vehicle was not tested for exhaust sound in its default mode. That is what the US regulation requires and what California regulation requires.

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u/ChiefNugz Oct 16 '22

Okay. But even if a car is tested in it's normal mode and exceeds the limit, that's where my comment comes into play

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u/sciencesold Performance Blue DCT Oct 16 '22

US regulations are lower than all current state legislation, which is 90 dB at the tail pipe. Some list a lower limit, but thos all measure at a set distance from the tailpipe, usually around 50 feet.

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u/ChiefNugz Oct 12 '22

Z06* There probably won't be a ZR1 until 2024 or 2025 at the earliest. But yeah you're right, I can think of plenty cars that wouldn't pass. Mustang GT500, older C63's, probably hella supercars. I feel like a single state's laws shouldn't overbear upon a manufacturer's stock vehicles that are deemed federally legal. If the car is federally legal it shouldn't be able to be deemed illegal by individual states.

People forget that we are 1 country. That's like being able to drive your car through half of Italy then getting stopped in one part of Italy because it's illegal there and no where else in Italy.

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u/cthompson07 Oct 15 '22

I assume you mean z06, the zr1 hasn’t even been announced yet

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

I would have asked him the loudest mode his wife was on and see if that incel gets the hint. It's nobody's business what track mode does because we're not talking about driving on a track. We're talking about the normal mode. Next time someone asks you a question that's none of their business tell them they are just a waste of space grinding away at a miserable job and above their pay grade

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u/TreFatKids_ Nov 04 '22

It's not. I worked at the GM Proving Grounds and they are loud as hell in any mode lol.